Not Far From the Tree
by Horsegirl1234567
Summary: Due to popular demand, the sequel to A Red and Yellow Affair is finally here! Follow Anna Blaze Apple through the rocky rode of adolescence as she tries to discover her life through the troubles and dangers life brings. With her friends by her side, she'll discover that its all fun and games until some pony gets hurt. Reading of first story is not needed at all.
1. Chapter 1

Anna Blaze galloped up the dirt path to the farmhouse, kicking up bushels of dust clouds as her hooves thundered up the path. The dirt refused to stick to her glossy pink coat that was enchanted weekly by Ponyville's own Twilight Sparkle; Big Macintosh refused to have his filly be as dirty as Applebloom could get.

The road was clear of debris from the recent storm that had ravaged most of Ponyville. Why Celestia demanded that these hurricanes and blizzards be brought on a whim, she would never know. If they wanted to, they could easily make it sunny all the time. Her and her parents had spent the weekend cleaning most of the farm of fallen branches and wrecked trees, much to her displeasure.

Her long, toned legs carried her far, being that she was a full teenager, much to her mother's discontent. But those adolescent legs screeched to a stop, when a rush of blue soared pass and halted in front of her. With a whip of his dark red mane to the other side of his face, Blitz stood in front of her, casting a sultry look. Anna Blaze scowled at the Pegasus pony. Blowing her blonde mane out of her eyes, she pushed pass him, bringing a determined grin to his lips. She heard the flap of feathers, and he was beside her yet again.

"Hey Anna Blaze," he cooed, sarcastically trying to drape a wing over her which she bucked off.

"What do you want Blitz?" She tried to sound polite, but this pony frankly was not one she felt like talking to at the moment.

She heard him chuckle, though she refused to look to verify. "Oh nothing, just trotting you home," he snickered.

"Yeah right," she said, breaking into an unexpected gallop. Her long legs (thanks to her father's strength and mother's fineness) made for a quick pace as she tried to escape her annoying stalker friend. But being an earth pony was to her disadvantage, for he was right by her side, not breaking a sweat as his wings carried him along. She bowed her head, pushing forward. She thought she heard him yawn.

Trying to shake him from her tail, she took a sharp right turn into one of the infinite rows of apple trees. Shocked by the change in direction, Blitz halted in air, searching around for a bit to see where she had run off to.

A few branches tried to scratch at her, but thankfully her enchanted coat protected her from the untamed twigs whipping at her face. "Woah!" she screamed, when a weight on the back of her withers made her flip over in her sprint. She hit the ground harder than she had expected, her vision reeling with dancing birds. Wait, those weren't birds. They were eyes! She shook her head, clearing up her sight, to see Blitz straddling her with a goofy smile.

Anna Blaze allowed herself to chuckle, and playfully pawed a hoof at her friend sitting on her chest. He laughed a teenage colt laugh, looking at Anna. "Wha' the hay is goin' on here?" came a southern drawl from in front of them.

Blitz looked up, freezing. "Uh..uh-uh" he stuttered. His wings quickly flapped and he hovered off of Anna Blaze. An orange tapping hoof next to Anna Blaze's head brought her to her feet.

She rubbed the back of her hoof awkwardly, "Hi Auntie Applejack."

"Don't, 'Hi Auntie' me, young filly. What in Equestria do ya think yur doin'?"

"Nothing," replied Anna, trying to stay cool and collected.

"Nothing my flank. You are going to march your rump right home," she commanded, and Anna Blaze started for home with her head bowed low, when Applejack turned to the terrified Pegasus.

"And for you! Don't touch me niece again, you got that?"

"Yes sir! I mean mam. I mean yes! " he stammered, taking off before Applejack's glare sliced him in half. "See you later, blank flank!" he called behind him, sticking his tongue out playfully.

Blank flank. Almost a full grown mare and yet she still lived without knowing what she was meant to live for. She was the only pony left in her senior class without a cutie mark. Her aunt Applebloom tried to explain that no matter how long it seems to take, patience is the key. She had waited until her freshman year with her friend Scootaloo. But Anna had waited longer than any pony she knew. Twilight Sparkle had listed dozens of ponies who didn't earn their cutie marks until they were even older than her, and although it reassured her that she wasn't physically sick or anything, she still was sensitive about the topic. Her friends would playfully tease her about it, and she would play along as a joke, but she never told any pony but her family about her true feelings on the situation.

Applejack loped up to her side, not looking her niece in the eye. "I'm sorry Auntie. I swear we didn't do anything. I tripped, that's all," tried Anna Blaze.

"Eeyup, we'll just wait to hear what your parents think about this," coldly stated Applejack.

"Ugh! You guys suck!" growled Anna Blaze under her breath in a fit of teen angst.

"Don't mouth back Anna Blaze Apple!" corrected Applejack, and Anna's chops slammed shut for the duration of the award walk to the farmhouse.

It had seen better days, that's for sure; especially after the wicked storm that had just struck days ago; Applejack held the screen door open as Anna Blaze grumped inside. Her father laid on one of the couches of the living room, perusing an issue of Equestria Daily that Ditzy Do had recently dropped off, his coat gaining hints of grey streaks through it. Her mother, a butter colored Pegasus with a soft pink mane, nursed a kitten in her forelegs. With a slam of the screen door on her flank, her parents looked up with curious eyes.

Anna Blaze rubbed the back of her hoof with the other, staring at the ground to avoid their stares. She felt Applejack's eyes staring holes through her head. "Go on, now. Tell 'em what ya'll were doin' back there in the fields."

Her father, Big Macintosh, a large sturdy stallion, lowered his newspaper, his gaze becoming concerned and somewhat angry. Her mother, the dainty Pegasus by the name of Fluttershy, famous for defeating Nightmare Moon and Discord as the Element of Kindness, wore a look of betrayal in a sense, terrified of what her daughter had done.

"I didn't do anything!" Anna blurted out, refusing to look at her parents any longer.

"Don't ya lie to us, now," drawled her father, rising to his hooves with the same ease of sixteen years ago. He moved to his daughter, looking her in the eye. "What happened?"

Anna Blaze shifted uneasily, and heard Applejack trot over to her mother.

"Nothing I swear to Celestia! I tripped and my friend was chasing me and he fell on top of me. Auntie just came at an awkward moment. I swear that's all that happened," ended Anna Blaze, cantering up the stairs to her room.

"Annie wait!" she heard her mother softly plead, but the slamming of the door blocked her out. Safely in her room with the door locked, the pink earth pony flopped on her bed. She had done her best to redo what had been left to her by Auntie Applebloom after she moved out to Fillydelphia for some architecture job, yet the painting of three fillies still remained on the ceiling of the room, painted perfectly by probably none other than Applebloom herself with her skill. A white unicorn, an orange Pegasus, and a yellow earth pony that had to be Applebloom and her "cutie mark crusaders" that she had heard so much about.

Though many attempts to remodel had been tried to fit her ever-changing look on life, Anna still wasn't satisfied. The posters of The Connemara's weren't actually doing it for her anymore, and the black bed spread and chandelier weren't really fitting her queue lately. Confound Carrot Cake for suggesting it! It sounded like such a good idea at the time, but now she was feeling more of a psychedelic style coming on in the near future.

But for now she was sprawled on her bed in a fit of teen anger. How could Auntie embarrass her like that? She wasn't doing anything wrong, and that was just Blitz being Blitz.

'I'm not who you wan me to be. Get over it,' thought Anna angrily, pulling a pillow over her ears.

_Tap tap tap._ Anna Blaze through the pillow off her head, ears perking up towards her closed window. _Tap tap tap._ She shifted off her black bed, tiphoofing over to the window to see the source of the taps. Silently sliding it open, she stuck her head out.

"Ow!" she screamed, a lot louder than she would have wanted to. A rock flew and hit her square on the muzzle. She searched around in the twilight light for the culprit, eyes resting on a very guilty looking Blitz. Behind him was another Pegasus pony, an earth pony and three unicorns on the ground below.

Blitz and the other pegaus pony held out a hoof to Anna Blaze inside her window. Looking back at the locked door, she smiled coyly and let herself be carried away into the coming darkness.

**Author's Note: You asked for it, and here it is! The first chapter of Not Far From the Tree! I know what ya'll are thinking, and this is going to be far from a Red and Yellow Affair. But it is still a romance fic, so not all hope is lost. I think you'll fid throughout the fic that the title is somewhat ironic, and you'll understand that as it goes on. But the main message that has to be kept in mind is that not every pony is perfect and sweet and nice. There are the rebellious teenagers, and even being raised by the kindest of parents cannot prevent that. Have fun reading and a new chapter will be up soon. Sorry for the wait. **


	2. Chapter 2

Blitz and Smokey carefully let Anna Blaze down onto her hooves once they were a safe distance from the farmhouse. The Sparkle twins, Dusk and Dawn, teleported Bubble and Gem over easily, and once all together, the teenage gaggle set forth to their usual hangout space.

Gem strode beside Smokey, her stainless white coat clashing against his ash grey fur, while her hair as blue as sapphire hissed at the bright orange glow of his mane. But though different in schemes, the two walked romantically in tune, Smokey's wing draped lovingly over the unicorn mare.

Bubble bounced gleefully over to the pair, just as her mother would have done in her prime. Her red mane swished over her bright green coat, making her a dizzy sight to see. "You guys are soooooo cute together!" she cooed, making Gem and Smokey blush.

Gem brushed her sapphire bangs out of her rich blue eyes, identical to those of her mother. She scoffed at the comment, "I wish my mother would say that." Smokey looked away sadly, but she quickly pecked his cheek, raising his spirits immediately.

"Get a room!" laughed Anna Blaze, trotting in between Dawn and Dusk. She frequently saw the twins at her weekly coat enchantments with their mother, and had become quite close with Dawn, finding a mare friend to confide in, although it was hard to separate her from her brother.

Bubble giggled her signature giggle and Blitz nonchalantly lit a cigarette. Anna Blaze eyed him cautiously. "Blitz, you shouldn't be doing that. You could get us in really big trouble."

"Come on Anna," he snorted, "don't be a foal." Smokey did some sort of head jerk, and with the flick of Blitz's wing a cigarette flew towards him as well. Gem bent her head and emitted a spark of her magic, softly lighting the end of the cigarette.

Anna Blaze looked down at the ground that fell under her hooves as she trotted along, her nose catching the strong scents of the cigarettes that hung from her friends' mouths. How Gem could stand to be so close to the source of the smell she would never know, but she seemed content as it was. Bubble bounced through the stench and clouds her stallion friends were producing, completely unaffected. Probably because she gave off such a strong scent of bubblegum that it completely destroyed any other scent that dared to come in range of her. That would probably explain her bubble gum cutie mark.

Anna squeezed out from between Dusk and Dawn, cantering until she was below the floating Blitz. "Blitz!" she called up to him. He looked down confused, but once he saw it was Anna, a cocky smile crossed his lips. He lowered his altitude until he was flying backwards facing Anna's face as she struggled to keep up.

"What up?"

"Where did you get that?"

"My mom," he answered without a care. Anna cocked an eyebrow, though it was obscured by her blonde mane to Blitz.

"She smokes? Isn't she an athlete?"

Blitz tensed up, flying faster until Anna was galloping and huffing. "Wonderbolt, and she doesn't care. She's never home anyway." He puffed a ring of smoke into her face and pulled up. Anna stopped in her tracks, stunned by her friend's defensiveness. She was now standing awkwardly far in front of her friends, and shuddered when she felt a hoof on her withers.

"Darling are you okay?" asked a concerned Gem, now out from under Smokey's wing but reeking of her boyfriend's cigarette.

Anna Blaze held her breath. "Just fine," she lied, looking behind her to see that the rest of her friends had caught up by now. The dirt road had transformed into cobblestone, and the group's hoofsteps clacked loudly against every stone. If their presence was supposed to be a secret, it wasn't anymore, for a group of seven ponies trotting down the road did cause quite disturbance, even if most ponies were inside by now.

They loudly clacked through Ponyville Square, gaining them a few not so discreet "be quiet"s as they went along with their teen business; laughing and screaming and joking as they enjoyed each other's company.

It was no secret that the ponies were friends, nor was it a surprise to anypony in town. Their parents, save for Smokey, were best friends, and were even the Elements of Harmony. Hence the meeting point where there friendship blossomed. They all met at one of the ceremonies to commemorate their parents for their bravery against Discord and Nightmare Moon years ago. If only similarities had brought them together.

Slowly exiting the town hub, after breaking a few bottles and swinging by Sugarcube Corner so Bubble could get her saddlebags, the ponies made towards the edge of the Everfree Forest for their hangout spot where they had met almost every week together in the past years.

The edge approached quickly, but the dark shut out any chance of seeing depth. Blitz wasted no time in spotting the entrance and flying straight through the open top of the door, unlatching the bottom half for his approaching friends.

Bubble gleefully hopped in, glass banging around inside her saddlebags. Gem trotted in with her nose held up like a Canterlot elite, just as she was trained by her mother. Smokey hovered a few inches off the ground, soaring into the abode, followed by the Sparkle twins who had gotten into yet another heated debate about something. But Anna Blaze stood outside, following with her head bent low as she did everytime. She felt guilty, and she knew she shouldn't. No one was using the cottage anymore, so why couldn't they make it their own little hangout space? But she felt like she was disgracing it but if it meant a chance away, she would deal with the inner pain.

Bubble, Smokey, Blitz, Dusk, Dawn, and Gem were already circled in the middle. They were an odd bunch she had to admit. Gem was the most sought after mare in school, and Smokey was a low-grade getting ruffian, while Bubble was the over excitable pony that everyone was friends with. Dusk and Dawn were braniac nerds, with not a lot of friends to call their own, except for the group. Blitz didn't talk to anypony after freshcolt year. Nopony knew why, not even his friends. He just refused to talk to anypony after that, except them of course. Every friend was an escape from their own lives when they were together, a chance to not have to worry about their life at home. And complain about home was about all they did.

Blitz took a long drag, then threw the cigarette to the floor, crushing the butt with his hoof. Smokey's hung from his mouth like straw hung from Big Macintosh's, and a wing was draped over his mare who was nuzzling in closer to him. It made her jealous, Anna Blaze was afraid to admit. Not of them in particular, but the fact that they were happy together. She had wanted a coltfriend badly, but the ponies either didn't like her like that or only wanted a hookup, which she had refused to do. It hurt her to see them so happy together, and she knew she should be happy for them, yet she yearned for them to break up so that they could feel like she felt.

'_Its awful, I know,'_ thought Anna Blaze at the idea that she wanted her friends to suffer so she wouldn't have to feel insecure.

"Crap!" blurted out Gem, snapping Anna Blaze out of her thoughts.

"What?" asked Dusk.

"I forgot the stuff!" she said facehoofing. Every pony in the circle deflated with groans of disappointment. "It's ok, I'll go get it."

"It'll take too long, let me go," suggested Smokey with a flap of his wings.

"Are you kidding?" she argued back, "My mother would kill me if she saw you at my house!" Gem looked around the circle. "Anna? Can you help me out?" she asked with pleading eyes.

"I don't know, can't you take Bubble?" As if on queue, Bubble sneezed, accompanied by streamers and confetti flying from her nose, and some sort of noisemaker sounding. Gem looked at Anna with a look that said 'that's exactly why she can't come.'

"Ugh! Fine, I'll go," grumbled Anna Blaze, getting off her flank and onto all four hooves.

"Oh thank you thank you thank you!" said Gem, scooping Anna Blaze into a hug. Anna rolled her eyes and started out the door.

"What are you doing?" asked Gem.

Anna Blaze looked at quizzically. "Um, going to get the thing with you?"

"By walking?"

Anna Blaze deadpanned. She lifted a hoof to her head, moving aside her forelock, and then motioned to her wingless back, and then shrugged. "What other way is there?"

"Dusk? Would you like to do the honors?" called Gem. Not even looking up from where his eyes were fixated, his horn glowed, spreading a magical blue aura over Gem and Anna Blaze. In a crack of time and space, they vanished.


	3. Chapter 3

**Author's Note: I am so sorry for taking so incredibly long to update. I have been very busy with school and adjusting, but everything is going great, but believe it or not I have been having a social life that I had to attend to! But I did not forget about all of you, so here you go. Another chapter. **

The two ponies erupted in front of the boutique with an audible crack of time and space and a blinding flash of light that sucked back into itself as quickly as it had appeared. Anna Blaze shook on her hooves, not being used to teleportation, or liking it, while Gem simply smoothed a few fly-aways in her mane with a hoof. The lights were off inside, the spiked boutique casting a grim shadow in the night against the grass around it, its shadows billowing in the softer shades that by darkness were now revealed.

A lone lantern swung from a rail by the door, creaking as it swayed softly in the wind with little ease, squeaking on its neglected hinges while the flame struggled immensely to stay bright in the whistling wind that whipped at it. To ay the least, it looked like Nightmare Night had come early this year in Anna's eyes.

Gem sauntered up to the door, grabbing a key from a location that was obscured by her body, and unlocked the door to her home. The door unhooked with ease, and the two ponies strode in, one unicorn with more confidence and posie than a certain terrified earth pony. Sneaking in? That was bad. Anna didn't feel as comfortable anymore, not like she had felt comfortable in the beginning anyway. She just knew Gem's mother, Rarity, to be a bi of a drama queen, and of a drinking queen.

Tiphoofing up the stairs, Gem snuck to the upstairs level. Turning around, she saw her friend not following. "What are you doing?" she hissed at Anna through the cloud of night.

"Should we be going upstairs? Isn't your mom home? She thinks your at my house!" snorted back Anna, sinking further towards the door. Gem flicked her tail in aggravation.

"She's probably asleep. Come on Anna Blaze! We don't have time for this." With that, Gem disappeared around the corner. Anna Blaze knew she could easily just wait for Gem to return, but knowing Gem, that would earn her an angry glare for the rest of the night. Huffing her bangs out of her eyes, Anna reluctantly trotted up the stairs to follow her friend to her room.

Photos lined the winding stairwell, none of which Anna stopped too long to look at, having visited Gem's home on multiple occasions. The same photos of Sweetie Belle, her aunt, and her mother and father, the acclaimed Fancypants fashion pony of Canterlot in his time. Gem always stressed to Anna how 'spectacular and fabulous' he was at his peak, being a pony everypony should know.

And he still was, just over in Manehatten, and Fillydeplhia… and Las Pegasus.

She heard the strike of a match and the burning of a wick, and trotted over to Gem's room to see her slip something into her saddlebag. Her room was the least modest teenage bedroom she had ever seen. A crystal chandelier hung delicately from her ceiling, the bedroom walls littered with posters of flankster bands that Anna wouldn't understand because she was too 'manestream', according to Gem. A few family photos stood in jewel-encrusted frames that probably cost more than Anna's farmhouse. The bedspread was divine, made of fine silk with soft rumples from where Gem had been laying, showing a hue of pink even in the dark. The white walls contrasted brilliantly with the black bed frame that gave a sort of diva quality to the whole abode. Needless to say, it made Anna Blaze's room look like crap. Hundreds of beautiful gem necklaces and horn rings lay on her vanity table, a lot that she hadn't seen during her last visit. Anna trotted over to the hoard. She dangled a pearl necklace from her hoof.

"Woah, where'd you get this?" asked the earth pony, throwing it over your head and preparing to model it.

"It was a reward. Now take it off before my mom catches us," chuckled the fashionable unicorn. Anna reluctantly obliged, but not before admiring the gleam of the pearls in the faint light.

They clip clopped down the hallway, until a shriek halted them. In the black nothing could be seen, neither having a candle with them. "Ahh!" screamed the unknown source again. Gem whipped her head to the left where a sliver of light peaked out. Moving cautiously, Gem and Anna made their way over to the door, Gem tapping it gently with a hoof so it swung open without a sound.

Rairty's room. The only light was the beaming rays of the moon flooding through the uncurtained window. A few unfinished projects scattered the room, with lifeless mannequins standing like soldiers in a small gaggle in one corner. A huge jewelry chest loomed from the workstation, most likely glittering with gems and diamonds inside its mahogany finish.

Something was moving. On the bed. There was something under the covers, thrashing about, screaming in agony as it swayed around. A unicorn horn peeked out, and the cries stopped, when a purple maned head popped out with a sigh of relief. And was that… a Pegasus wing?

_Click Click Click._ The smell of smoke breezed around the room, as the other pony puffed on a freshly lit cigarette which he then offered to Gem's mother, who took it immediately, deeply inhaling and exhaling heavily. She looked towards te door, and the cigarette fell from her mouth.

She scrambled out of the bed, trying to tame her mane and stuttered for something to say. Gem's face was a rock. She did not blink. Her horn lit up, and the jewelry chest unhitched, a pair of incredibly huge diamond earing floating out and hooking onto her own ears, before she turned and walked out.

Dumbfounded, Anna through her eyes to the ground. Rarity's mother just watched the two ponies walk out in disbelief.

Anna and Gem headed out of the door, Gem slamming the door dangerously close to Anna's rump with her magic on the way out. She stared ahead of her as they went, not even bothering to teleport.

"Sure is the Element of Generosity." That was all she said as they were swallowed into the darkness of a sleeping Equestria.


End file.
